Cut-off knife for cigarette machines



Feb. 9,1926. f 1,572,393

- E. KQERNER CUT-OFF KNIFE FOR CIGARETTE MAHINS Filed August 26. 1925Patented F eb. 9, 1926.

UNITED STATES! gParran'r OFFICE.

EVVALD KOERNER, OF DRESDEN, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED CIGARETTE MA-CHINE C0., INC., OF LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA, A CORPORATION OF VIRGINIA.

CUT-OFF KNIFE FOR CIGARETTE MACHINES.

Application filed August 26, 1925.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, EwALn KonnNnn, a citizen of the Republic of Germany,and resident of Dresden, Germany, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in C it-Git' Knives for Cigarette Machines, of which the:following is a specification.

My invention relates to out olf knives or blades to be used in cigarettemachines and for analogous purposes.

The objects of the inventio-n are to provide a very thin knife or bladewhich will cut acontinuous cigarette rod or cigarette mouth piecewithout distorting or bending the rod, or its paper cover or the mouthpiece at the point of cutting; to provide suoli a blade with asubstantially eccentric cutting edge which provides a shearing out, andalso to provide the blade with a slot arranged for easy mounting andadjusting of the blade in relation to a rotary shaft and between shaftflanges which clamp the blade in position.

Cut off knives or blades for analogous purposes have heretofore beenmade of relatively thick material, such as cast steel, and on account oftheir thickness substantially deform or bend the cigarette rod or thecover paper, or the mouth piece adjacent the cutting point. Theprovision of a thin blade, which may be produced from thin sheet orstrip steel prevents such distortion of the product. 1While theinvention is not limited as to the exact thickness of the blade, theblades are made very much thinner than has been customary in this art.They may be as thick as ordinary cardboard or in some casessubstantially of the thickness of an ordinary safety razor blade. It hasalso been customary heretofore to make cut olf knives of circular' form,requiring movement of the knife in its own plane to cutthe rod or mouthpiece. The provision of a substantially eccentric cutting edge avoids insome cases the necessity for any movement of the knife in its ownpla-ne; or if such movement is provided it may be materially reduced andin any case the eccentric edge provides a more effective shearing cutthan is obtained with a circular knife. The mounting and adjusting slotis cut in the bladefrom a point substantially opposite the cutting edgete substantially tie normal or original cen- Serial No. 52.537.

ter of the blade. This slot may be passed over the blade shaft as theblade is inserted between clamping discs or flanges, and as the blade isground down and worn away at the cutting edge it may be easily andquickly moved out and reclamped.

The described features, and especially the eccentric cutting .edge alsopermits or facilitates grinding the edge while the knifeV remains inposition in the machine, without removing it for grinding, as isnecessary in many ycases with blades heretofore used.

The characteristics and advantages of the invention are furthersuiiiciently explained in connection With the following` detaileddescription of the accompanying drawing, which shows one, eXemplifyingembodiment ofthe invention. After considering this embodiment, skilledpersons will understand that man variations may be made within theprinciples of the invention, and I contemplate the employment of anystructures that are properly within the scope of the appended claims. Y

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a blade or knife embodying the inventionin one form,

.with certain parts of its support or mounting sufficiently indicated ina diagrammatic way. y

Fig. 2 is a plan view with the rotary mounting or blade supportsufficiently indicated in simplified form.

The knife or blade B is stamped or otherwise formed from sheet or stripsteel of suitable composition and hardness, and of thin sec-tion, assufficiently indicated in Fig. 2. When out from a .strip of suitablewidth, certain limits of the blade are defined by parallel edges l,which are the edges of the original strip. One other portion of theblade may have a substantially circula r ontliue as at 2. Substantiallyopposite this curved or circular contour is the cutting edge 3 which iscurved or usually arcuate and eccentric to the approxin'iate center ofthe blade, or as otherwise described, the curved edge 3 may be delinedby a radius centered elsewhere than on an imaginary median parallel ofthe two parallel edges l,

The cutting edge may be produced by grinding to a simple bevel, as shownin Fig. 2, or otherwise in some cases, the edge may be double beveled.,

A slot 4 is provided, usually ruiming from the curved baclt7 edge 2 tothe normal or original center of the blade.

T he blade is mounted by passing the slot el over a shaft 5 as the bladeis inserted between clamping flanges 6. The position of the flangeoutline in relation to the blade in one o' its adjusted positions isindicated by the dot-and-dash line 6a in Fig. l.

Vhen so mounted the arcuate cutting edge 3 is evidently eccentric to theshaft center and therefore will produce a `shearing cut with or Withouta lateral movement of the Shaft when the blade is rotated in thedirection olf the arrow. This is sulicient-ly eX- plained by therelative position oit the cigarette rod R in F l, which otherwise mightbe a. tubular cardboard mouth piece ot a Russian type cigarette.Theicutting edge may be sharpened from timeto time While it is inWorking position, by bringing it in Contact With a suitable grinderwhich may be arranged as part of or as an attachment to the cigarettemachine; As the edge Wears away the blade may be readjuste'd in anobvious manner by loosening the clamping flanges 6, moving the cuttingedge outward or to the right, in the position shown in Fig. l, andretightening the flanges vG.

I claim l. A cut-off knife for cigarette machines and similar purposes,comprising a thin metal blade having an eccentric cutting'edge, and alsohavinga slot extending from approximately the normal center ot' theblade to an edge substantially opposite the cutting edge.

2. A cutter for purposes setrlorth formed from a .strip of thin sheetsteel and having parallel edges, an arcuate cutting edge joining theparallel edges and generated on a radius centered away from the medianiarallel ot said parallel edges, the blade also having a slot extendingfrom the normal blade center to a blade edge substantially o pesite thecutting edge, the slot being sul)- stantia-lly parallel to said parallelblade edges.

Signed at Dresden, Germany, this 8th day ot August A. D. 1925.

EVALD KOERNEI.

